Are you serious? Eric Lapointe to be "boss" of Jim Popp and Marc Trestman. Not serious. Same with Mike Soles.
Richard
Arash Madani tweeted this:
Arash Madani?@ArashMadani#Alouettes president Ray Lalonde is leaving for “personal reasons.” This mean office staff can have family pictures at their desk now? #CFL
and from Dave Naylor:
David William Naylor?@TSNDaveNaylorAlouettes president Ray Lalonde stepping down. It is well-known that his style was not endorsed by everyone in that organization. #cfl
Absolument d’accord. C’est pas un defi pour un jeune joueur a la retraite.
Il y a aussi le coach qui n’a pas de contrat… Lalonde disait plus tot cette semaine qu’on se preparait a amorcer les negotiations avec l’agent de Marc Trestman.
agreed. i just finished watching the rds bits. it seems the team might either go the year without a president or promote someone from within the organization. As far as I know the prez’s job is not so much to be the boss of Trestman and Popp. Jim assured that this will not affect the on-field preparation of the team. The prez’ job is the off the field stuff. So the idea was for someone people recognize to be the face of the team like Larry Smith was for 14 years.
They sure kept putting the emphasis on the fact that Ray lasted 423 days. huh, funny coincidence. 
The team knew since tuesday he was leaving and he Had asked for a one year contract in 2011 so everything is pretty legit.
I am a little concern when I read tweets like that. Both those guys are not conncted in the least bit to the going ons in the Montreal organization. So this would have to come rom leaks within the football side of the business. or some of the media, pr guys with the team. Whoever is leaking stuff like that out needs to be outed by the next boss. I really hope its not coming from the football side because they are helping kill the golden goose. I could not careless what these two think. It is what the Montreal francophone media that I’m concerned about…
Yeah let’s put a young guy who sells mutual funds for a living in charge of a 20 million dollar struggling business. That will help :thdn:
I’m just throwing out what a lot of people must have already thought. Don’t have to take it seriously.
You guys work it out. I'm glad I don't have to worry about the Impact. 60,000+ tomorrow gonna enjoy it with my dad and then baseball starts again sunday. I'm not gonna keep caring about the als forever if no else is gonna. wonder if there's gonna be a fan train now. last year's was pretty tame with only 150 people.
Looks like both Richard and I are right. Lalonde was let go because of a terrible bottom line and his inability to get along with Football personnel. I think we saw a glimpse of the battle with the back and forth on the training camp location between Bishop and Saint-Jean. I could see the Marketing guy want to go back to Saint-Jean to get more coverage while the coach who experienced both probably wanted the isolation of Sherbrooke. There was also enormous pressure put on Jim to acquire Sam Giguere and that likely came from Ray.
[url=http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2012/05/11/congediement-deguise-de-ray-lalonde-]http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2012/0 ... y-lalonde-[/url]Not beating up on you at all. Like you i can see that kind of stuff being pushed by the media…But it would be a disaster. Unless the President’s job is to be just a “face”. Again sorry for coming across like an ass…
For those who missed it. Ray says it all if you know what to look for. The Last paragraph especially.
[url=http://www.lapresse.ca/sports/football/201205/08/01-4523157-alouettes-ray-lalonde-a-son-deuxieme-tour-de-piste.php]http://www.lapresse.ca/sports/football/ ... -piste.php[/url]As a fan who experienced the 1987 demise of the team, Lalonde`s departure is not good news.
The Journal story is interesting and points out the faults that everyone had mentioned at the time he was hired. But Lalonde is not stupid nor incompetent. And neither is Larry Smith. So the question becomes is anyone capable of overcoming the financial and corporate challenges the team is facing.
We can draw up a profile of the perfect candidate - merchandising guru, corporate glad-hander, entrenched in Quebec business community, kid gloves in handling football operations. But does such a person exist? And if he does, can he be convinced to work with a SMB like the Alouettes?
So yes I`m concerned.
Another interesting part of the Journal story is mention by Paul Harris of Matt Zalkowitz as being one of the Als staff that can hold the fort in the interim. There is no listing of Zalkowitz on the Als website, but googling him shows that he was Director, Consumer Products with the Canadiens from Feb. 2003 to May 2011.
This also reminds me of the overqualified Patrick Pion - Assistant, Football Operations. Could he be someone Lalonde forced on Football Operations?
Great post… From what I’ve witnessed in 20 years in business is in order to have the leverage to “demand” certain things from established individuals in a business you join. You need to have leverage and that leverage is earned. If Lalonde had filled the luxury boxes and found a way to rebrand the Als in the public psyche he could have demanded from Popp that he acquire Giguere or draft French Canadian ball players and Wethenaul would have pulled Jim onside but Lalonde never managed to “pay for himself” that was his biggest mistake, failure or challenge, however you want to word it. Had Ray sold an extra five boxes, he would have paid for his salary.
Its nice to have big ideas but in a small business your better to pull the staff around 1 project at a time and accomplish it as quckly as possible then moving on to the next instead of doing 10 percent of 20 things. Ray commanded a big salary and he spent money on on new online store and advertising but he didn’t bring money to the mill…Now he would be right in saying all these things are interwoven but money talks, bs walks… as they say.
Reaylly it comes back to what I mentionned about Ray not understanding the challenges and requirements of an SMB.
Personal reasons
lmbol
More like "personnel reasons"
The second it became clear the team was committed to slapping a
"Rolls Royce Conversion Kit"
On a creaking old jalopy
Lalonde realized the gig was up
How the hell does ANYONE sell the same old product
One that was admittedly great "in the day"
But which last year was more "creak" than creativity?
And that to a hip and happening city
That has no time for losers
Jonesing for the new and the now?
The Alouettes best hope is for Calvillo to fall on his sword
Or his face
From game one.
And they better hope that whoever steps in is ready to make a splash
An impression
And a BIG one
Or this team is going under
FAST
Harsh but difficult to argue with. I think getting the Lawyer and Bean counter to run the shop for a year is a bad idea.
If the team lost 500k in 2010 winning the GC, Its not hard to think that the losses in 2011 are seven figures....
Darn right I am serious. The person who is President needs to sell the team to the corporate world and the fans. Jim Popp and Marc Trestman look after the on field product.
Absoltuely Lapointe could do the job based on his current status. Do not think he could do any worse than Lalonde.
Does it have to be a 50 something year old to be in that position?! By all accounts Lalonde was not the one for the job.
Not an age thing but in general in business it takes years to build a network of "wealthy" contacts so it is rare unless you've founded Google or Facebook that a 20 year old would have that kind of network.
If the Als are looking for a "face" for their franchise an Eric Lapointe might fit, so would a Soles or Vercheval but what the team needs is someone who can close big financial transactions. When Eric Lapointe calls a CEO, they will say "Who?"
They need a guy who can call that CEO and say I need a favour. I need you to buy a 60 000 suite for my team or a 10 000 table for my booster club dinner.... The question is: Is that guy out there ? If he isn't and Bob Wethenaul can or does not wish to sponge losses (understandable) and he's the only reason we have a team. The best thing might be to sell part or the whole team. At one point Savard and some partners wanted to buy it... They have the connections and the pull to build a football stadium. Hell he owns enough land on his own to build one. That was five years ago... There might not be a buyer today.
I don't know what the solution is. Its a very complicated situation and as the rest of the leagues teams get better and richer it will only worsen.